I got this during a Power Metal binge as it was the only thing available in the record store that I didn’t have, and being a fan of Firewind, I thought I’d give it a shot. I shouldn’t have. Gus G has gotten a lot of praise for his work in Firewind, and with good reason, as that band produced fine albums such as Allegiance and The Premonition, but this just plain sucks.

What we’re dealing with here is an album of hard rock/metal, inspired by the Slash solo album a few years ago, meaning different singers for almost every track. I was stoked at the idea of hearing once At Vance frontman Mats Leven fronting an album of Firewind-style Power Metal, but instead what we get is a bunch of modern metal cuts in the style of fucking Alterbridge or Shinedown. I mean, come on. What the fuck kind of money-making ploy is this? The songs are vapid, without the fretboard histrionics that is usually the hallmark of this guitarist. The choruses are so obvious you can already sing them before they appear, and the riffs (if you can call them that) are made up of mindless chugging and modern techniques which just lie there like something dead. Tom Englund does a good job on ‘Dreamkeeper’, which actually sounds like an Evergrey song, so if you’re wondering why I gave this any points at all, it’s for that.

I’ve already wasted enough time on this thing, so I’m signing off now before I start personally attacking the players. Looking for a Power Metal fix? Avoid this and just wait until something better comes along.